The present invention relates to a device and method for cooking and/or heating comestibles, including solid food such as vegetables, meat, sandwiches, pasta, bread and rice and liquid food such as soup, milk, alcoholic, non-alcoholic drinks or any mix of solid and liquid comestibles. Particularly, the present invention relates to a device and method for cooking or heating comestibles directly in a dish such as a plate, bowl, cup, platter or serving bowl with hot gaseous fluid such as pressurized steam, hot air or their mix.
Today, cooking is mostly done with stoves/pans due to their versatility in preparing most comestibles including solid food (vegetables, meat, pasta, sandwiches, rice, etc.) and liquid food (soup, etc.), while heating of comestibles is mostly done with microwave ovens due to their speed and convenience. The well-known drawbacks with stoves/pans include the need for cooking oils, which is considered unhealthy by some people, the damage of vitamins and other crucial nutrients by the high heat and the tedious cleaning of the stoves and pans after the cooking. The well-known drawbacks for microwave ovens include the partial hardening or drying of the comestibles due to non-uniform heating, generally unfavorable taste, and frequent overflow when liquid food such as soup or milk is heated.
Steam devices are slowly gaining popularity since they provide uniform, well-controlled heating/cooking temperatures and requires no cooking oils. Existing steam devices, however, are too complex for most consumers to set up prior to and to disassembly after the cooking and/or heating the food. Furthermore, after the meal the consumers have to clean the numerous components of the device, which normally include a cooking basket for holding food, a cooking container to receive the cooking basket, a water container/boiler for supplying steam, a condensate collector if the condensate is not to be re-boiled and a removable lid, in addition to the dishes (e.g. plates, bowls, cups, platters and serving bowls) the user or consumer use to serve or eat the meal. Examples of such steam devices are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,076,452 to Dessuie, U.S. Pat. No. 5,865,104 to Sham, U.S. Pat. No. 5,816,139 to Scorta, U.S. Pat. No. 5,794,525 to Fan, U.S. Pat. No. 5,653,161 to Nopanen, U.S. Pat. Nos .5,631,033, 5,404,803 to Glucksman, U.S. Pat. No. 5,287,798 to Takeda, U.S. Pat. No. 5,097,753 to Naft, U.S. Pat. No. 4,897,525 to Hirsch, U.S. Pat. No. 4,739,698 to Allaire, U.S. Pat. No. 4,649,811 to Manganese, U.S. Pat. No. 4,617,908 to Miller and U.S. Pat. No. 4,495,932 to Bratton.
Thus, it is highly desirable for the users or consumers to have a device and method that provide uniform, well-controlled heating/cooking temperatures and requires no cooking oils, that are very easy to set-up and to disassembly, and that requires no cleaning work after the cooking or heating of comestibles.
A device for preparing comestibles with hot gaseous fluid such as steam, steam/hot air mixture or hot air directly in a dish is provided. The device includes a body comprising a generally gas-impermeable plate having a lower surface adapted to face the comestibles in a dish and an upper surface opposite to the lower surface, a hot gaseous fluid inlet located on the upper surface of the body for communicating with a generator capable of generating the hot gaseous fluid at sufficient pressure to deliver the hot gaseous fluid, and a seal plate located around the generally gas-impermeable plate of the body and having a lower surface adapted to engage with the top or rim of the dish to prevent the hot gaseous fluid from escaping from the interface between the seal plate and dish, thereby creating a substantially closed cooking or heating chamber for the comestibles in the dish. Also included is a distributor located at or near the lower surface of the body and connected to the hot gaseous fluid inlet for distributing the hot gaseous fluid into the substantially closed cooking or heating chamber, causing the comestibles to be cooked or heated in or on the dish directly. The distributor comprises a plurality of orifices configured to convert the pressurized hot gaseous fluid from the generator into a plurality of jets to inject onto or into the comestibles in the dish at sufficient speed to create a turbulent environment in the substantially closed cooking or heating chamber for more uniform cooking or heating. By cooking or heating comestibles directly in a dish with the hot gaseous fluid, the device allows a user to serve or consume the prepared comestibles in the same dish, therefore greatly simplifying the meal preparation as well as relieving the user from the tedious cleaning work after the cooking.
The body of the device adopts a generally cone or dome shape with a condensation collector such as a trough around its lower peripheral to collect the water condensation formed on the lower surface of the body. The condensation can also be removed by a storing chamber and a conduit having one end connected to the storing chamber and another end adapted to insert into the comestibles to allow the presence of a very small pressure in the dish to force the condensation into the storing chamber. The lower surface of the seal plate is adapted to be dynamically or reversibly engaged with the top or the rim of the dish in a first embodiment of the invention, and to be peelably sealed by heat staking or adhesive to the top or the rim of the dish in a second embodiment, to enclose the comestibles in the dish. The device according to the first embodiment further includes a folding mechanism to allow the body and seal plate to be folded to reduce the device size, thereby facilitating the transportation or storage of the device. The generator comprises a generator inlet for gaseous fluid or water, a super-heating channel for evaporating the water from the inlet and for heating the gaseous fluid to a sufficiently high temperature for cooking or heating the comestibles in the dish, and a generator outlet connected to the hot gaseous fluid inlet.
The device also includes an extendable member having a member inlet connected to the generator outlet and a member outlet connected to the hot gaseous fluid inlet on the upper surface of the body for allowing a user to move the body between a rest position, in which the body is close to the member inlet, and an operating position, in which the body is relatively farther away from the member inlet. In one embodiment, the extendable member further comprises a sliding chamber connected to the member inlet, a piston adapted to fit slidingly in the sliding chamber, an elongated cylinder connected to the piston and having a through-channel for the hot gaseous fluid, an upper end in communication with the member inlet and a lower end at which the member outlet is located, and a spring for pushing the piston upwards in the sliding chamber. In another embodiment, the extendable member further comprises a flexible or coiled tube having a first end at which the member inlet is located and a second end at which the member outlet is located.
Another aspect of the invention is a method for preparing comestibles with hot gaseous fluid such as steam, steam/hot air mixture or hot air. The method includes placing the comestibles to be prepared in a dish, setting the dish directly below an applicator comprising the body and seal plate or setting the applicator above the dish, and engaging the applicator with the top or the rim of the dish to prevent the hot gaseous fluid from escaping from the interface between the applicator and the dish, thereby forming a substantially closed cooking or heating chamber for the comestibles in the dish. The method also includes introducing the hot gaseous fluid into the substantially closed cooking or heating chamber and distributing the hot gaseous fluid to the comestibles in the dish, thereby cooking or heating the comestibles with the hot gaseous fluid in the dish directly. The next step is to turn off the hot gaseous fluid to the applicator after the comestibles in the dish has been prepared and become ready for serving or consuming and removing the applicator from the top of the dish to make the prepared comestibles in the dish accessible to the user. To improve the efficiency of cooking or heating the comestibles, the step of introducing the hot gaseous fluid comprises a step of delivering a first pressure pulse of the hot gaseous fluid, comprising a pressurization period and a de-pressurization period, to the comestibles in the dish. During the pressurization period, the hot gaseous fluid is forced into the air-spaces and/or microscopic pores in the comestibles by the higher pressure outside the air-spaces and/or microscopic pores, and during the de-pressurization period, the hot gaseous fluid is forced out of the air-spaces and/or microscopic pores in the comestibles by the higher pressure inside the air-spaces and/or microscopic pores, thereby causing the cooking or heating action to occur deep inside the comestibles. The next step is to deliver a second pressure pulse of the hot gaseous fluid, comprising a pressurization period and a de-pressurization period, to the comestibles in the dish. Again, the hot gaseous fluid is forced into the air-spaces and/or microscopic pores in the comestibles during the pressurization period and forced out of the air-spaces and/or microscopic pores in the comestibles during the de-pressurization period, causing the cooking or heating actions to occur deep inside the comestibles. The steps of delivering pressure pulses to the comestibles are repeated until the comestibles has been fully cooked or heated for servicing or consuming.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a device and method for preparing better tasting, healthier solid and liquid food.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a device and method that are significant easier to use and faster than current cooking/heating appliances including microwave ovens.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a device and method that are require little or no cleaning work after preparing the comestibles.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a device and method to resolve the overflow problem when liquid food such as soup or milk is heated or cooked.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a device and method that allows a user to cook or heat with one or more hot gaseous fluid.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a device and method for heating or cooking comestibles uniformly without overheating.
These and other objectives and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments, taken together with the accompanying drawings.